AN INJECTIVE CHARACTERIZATION OF' PEANO SPACES Burkhard
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Topology and its Applications 11 (1980) 37-46 @ North-Holland Publishing Company AN INJECTIVE CHARACTERIZATION OF’ PEANO SPACES Burkhard HOFFMANN Mathematical Institute, Oxford, England Received 20 November 1978 Revised 26 April 1979 It is shown that a continuous map defined on a closed zero-dimensional sabspace S of a compact space 7’ into a Peano space X can be continuously extended over T or, equivalently, X is an AE(0, OO),and this property precisely characterizesPeano spaces within the class of compact metric spaces. Surjectively, a compact AE(0, ~a)of arbitraryweight is proved to be the continuous image of a Tychonoff cube by a map satisfying the zero-dimensional lifting property. AMS (MOS) Subj. Class. (1970): Primary 54F25,54ClO Peano space zero-dimensional lifting propel :y AE(m, n) 0. Introduction Locally connected, connected metric spaces or Peano spaces were characterized by Hahn and Mazurkiewicz in their celebrated theorem as the continuous images of the unit interval. Although considerable effort has been made in various directions to generalize their theorem to non-met&able spaces (see e.g. [ 111, [ 121 and their references), no satisfactnry solution has yet been fcund. Combining the standard technique of the proof of the Hahn-Mazurkiewicz theorem with the concept of zero-dimensional lifting property or z.d.1.p. we prove that, in the category of compact spaces and continuous maps, Peano spaces are precisely the metrizable absolute extensors for zero- to infinite-dimensional spaces (Theorem 2.2). This result furnishes us with an injective characterization of Peano spaces which seems to be suitable for a generalization to compact spaces of uncountable weight. Theorem 2.1 provides a surjective characterization of this generalized class. For pairs (m, n) of extended integers,, 0 G m G n s 00, a compact space X is defined to be an ahlute extensor for m- to n-dimensional spaces or AE(m, n), if for any embedding C:S + T of compact spaces S, T with dim S G m, dim T 6 n and any continuous map t# : S +X there exists a continuous map $: T -) X such that $0 c = 4. In [4], R. Haydon proved the equivalence of the notions of Dugundji space and AE(0,0). Obviously, a compact space is an absolute retract if and only if it is an AE@, 00). As a hybrid of these two extreme cases, we characterize the class of Peano 37 38 B. Hoffmann / An injective characterization of Peano spaces spaces as the class of metrizable AE(0, a). Furthermore, without restriction to metrizabillity an AE(0,00) is surjectively classified as a continuous image of a Tychonoff cube by a map satisfying the z.d.1.p. (Theorem 2.1). This surjective characterization of AE(0,00) should be contrasted with the characterization given in [S] for AE(0,0) as the continuous image of a Cantor cube be a map satisfying the z.d.1.p. Recall that, as a consequence of Milutin’s lemma, a compact .metrizable space is the continuous image of the Cantor set by a map allowing a regular averaging operator or r.a.o. (see [8], Theorem 5.6). Applying results of a previous paper [S], we deduce here that a Peano space is a continuous image of the unit interval by a map allowing an r.a.o. (Theorem 2.2). This article is devided into two sections. In Section 1 we build up a machinery concerning the concept of z.d.1.p. and culminating in Proposition 1.6 which, in turn, is used as our main tool for the proofs in Section 2. We like to point out that the results and proofs contained in this paper are of a purely topological nature. The reader who is not familiar with the algebraic notion of r.a.o. may choose to substitute it by the topological notion of z.d.1.p. whenever the compact spaces involved are metrizable. For the equivalent of the notions of r.a.o. and z.d.1.p. within the realm of compact metrizable spaces was obtained in a previous article [S]. Notations The closed unit interval of the reals is denoted by I and D is the discrete two-point space (0, 1). We follow the convention of [lo] in identifying a cardinal number with the corresponding initial ordinal. Hence the first two infinite cardinals are indicated by the symbols or)and ml, A countable product of copies of D is homeomorphic to Do. The space R”‘ is frequently identified with the Cantor set, consisting of those elements of I that have a triadic expansion in which the digit 1 does not occur. The dimension function dim indicates, as usual, the covering dimension. Note that dim X .= -1 means X = 0. The weight of a compact space X is the smallest cardinal r such that t&ere exists a base for the topology of X of cardinality T. We can embed X in the Tychonoff cube I’, For a compact space Z denote by C(Z) the Banach space of continuous real- valued functions of 2, equipped Gth the supremum norm. Suppose we are given a continuous surjection 8: X + Y ck compact spaces X, Y. A linear map u: C(X) * C(Y) is said to be a regular aver aging operator or r.a.0, for 8, if u is positive and u( f 00) = f holds for all elements 1; of C( Y). Necessarily, an r.a.0. is of norm 1. 1. The concept of zero-dimensional Ming property The fundamental tool for this piece of research is provided by the notion of zero-dimensional lifting property which we introduced in [S]. For the convenience of the reader we record it here again. B. Hoffmann / An injective characterization of Peano spaces 39 Definition 1.1. Let X, Y be compact spaces and 8: X + Y a continuous surjection. Then 0 satisfies the zero-dimensional lifting property or z.dJ.p., if for any zero- dimensional compact space T and for any continuous map 4: T + Y there exists a continuous lifting a: T + X such that the diagram commutes, i.e. 80 c = 4. Let us start the investigation of the notion of z.d.1.p. by compiling some elementary observations. Trivially, any retraction of compact spaces satisfies the z.d.1.p. and if the image space of a continuous surjection is zero-dimensional the converse holds as well. Any projection of a product of compact spaces onto one of its factors satisfies the z.d.1.p. The notion of z.d.1.p. is stable under finite compositions. Lifting maps coordinatewise immediately yields that the product map (e,)a,A: n xa+ n yk (Xa)acAH(oa(xa))aEA9 aeA aEA satisfies the z.d.l.p., if each coordinate map 6a : Xa + Ya has this property. In [SJ, we proved that for a continuous surjection of compact spaces satisfying the z.d.1.p. entails the existence of an r.a.o. Moreover, it was shown that the converse holds, if the compact spaces involved are metrizable. Hence, in particular, an open continuous surjection of compact metrizable spaces satisfies the z.d.l.p., since it allows an r.a.o. by a result of Pelczyriski [8, p. 651. In the sequel, we shall utilize a lemma which expresses the stability of the notion of z.d.1.p. under the operations of restriction and extension. Its straightforward verification is left to the reader. Lemma 1.2. Let 8: X + Y be a continuous surjection of compact spaces X and Y satisfying the z.d.1.p. Then the following hold. (i) For any closed subset 2 of Y the induced restriction 6(19-‘(Z) : K’(Z) + 2 satisfies the z.d.1.p. (ii) If c : X + 2 is an embedding of X into a compact spti:::e2 and 9: 2 + Y is a continuous extension of 8, i.e. $0 L = 8: then $ satisfies the z.d.1.p. The following result on the notion of z.d.1.p. relies heavily on the fact that we are concerned with the lifting of maps defined on a zero-dimensional domain space. We show that the concept of z.d.1.p. is, by its nature, a local one. o&ion 1.3. Let 8 : X + Y be a continuous surjection of compact spaces Xand Y. Suppose, we are given a family of closed subspaces ( Ya )acA of Ysuch that the union of 40 B. Hoffmann / An injective characterization of Peano spaces the interiors of the sets Ya(a E A) covers Y and a farnil) (Xo)ac~ of closed subspaces of X such that 8 maps Xa onto Y, for all a E A. Let 0,: X, + Y, (a E A) denote the restriction of 8 and assume &, satisfies the z. d.1.p. for all a E A. Then 8 satisfies the a.d.1.p. Proof. Let T be a zero-dimensional compact space and 4 : T + Y a continuous map. Utilizing the z.d.1.p. of the maps & and the zero-dimensionality of the space T we shall construct a continuous lifting a: T + X for 4 by defining it locally. Let Ua denote the interior of Y, for all a E A. By a standard compactness argument there exists a finite subset F of A such that the union U {U, : a E F} coincides with Y. The continuity of 4 entails that the family (&-‘( &))dE~ is a finite, open covering of T.